Search - Bo Diddley :: Ep Collection

A remarkable collection!

Dr.D.Treharne | Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom | 01/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Something of the background to this album might help explain just why it's such a great purchase. Firstly Colin Miles the man who owns the record company never gets anybody less than really good to write the sleeve notes. Here it's George White who wrote the biography of Bo Diddley.He explains about both the ever changing players that surrounded Bo, and when most of the tracks were recorded.This is just as well, because for us Brits this material all appeared in the space of three years when Chess licensed their produce to the Pye Record label in the UK. Without the information to know any diffferent I think that most of us thought that it was all current - instead of the earliest having been recorded in 1955. The material is taken from eight EP's (Extended players) and as another reviewer has rightly pointed out contains a great version of "Hong Kong Misssippi" and "You're looking good" from the same session. Bo never had a better backing band and the interplay with Peggy Jones is fantastic and almost timeless.It doesn't contain any of the material from the excellent but under-rated "Hey Good lookin'" album but that's a quibble. This has 24 classics from a man at the top of his form. It's a credit to the Chess label. Mike Vernon ( he of Blue Horizon/Fleetwood Mac) told me on an interview on my Radio Show that Bo Diddley was the most difficult performer he'd ever worked with. You'd never guess it from these seamless Chess classics. If you haven't caught up on Bo this is a great place to start getting to know a great sorely missed talent."